College Campaign for Broadband

Chaos-Engine

How about every IT related student in the country signs up to a joint declaration that they may have to leave the country to find employment due to the lack of Broadband infrastructure and perhaps move to somewhere like Serbia, Turkey or Russia were broadband penetration is much more numerous and affordable.??

I'm in First year Computer Science in TCD and have access to a Mega mega fast connection here.. When i go home i have a 56k connecting at just 45k and charged to the high heaven

I'm certain I could get all the Computer Science, ICT and CSLL people to sign up to it... I need a little help in how to get started and what wording to use in the declaration. Any help would be great and backing from IOFFL too would be handy.

I'm sure that if something like this was released well the media would jump on it

ando

Originally posted by Chaos-Engine
How about every IT related student in the country signs up to a joint declaration that they may have to leave the country to find employment

I would'nt only limit that to students. I've been out of college 2 years now and am still finding it a struggle working in IT. I'm looking around constanly for new and better paying work, here and abroad

Dustaz

A petition signed by those students coupled with an Ioffl press release would make great press imo.

This is the begginnings of A Good Idea.

Students have always been at the forefront of protesting for change and they are also people who are directly affected by the costs of internet access (i doubt there are many students living away from home who are signed up to dsl.).

A good while ago, there was an idea to set up a students chapter mentioned for Ioffl, Im not so sure thats a runner (altho it could be) but it would be nice to see more of an organised student push.

stuff like posters in colleges with Ioffl and ETs site addresses would be a good place to start.

Any of the students out there got any ideas?

ykt0di9url7bc3

Any of the students out there got any ideas?

Well considering that boards.ie has i'd say Comp soc members from all colleges....start there...

the comp socs can start getting the activism/organisation going with their local students union...

once the support is there, link it up with other coplleges and let the protests/marches commence...


what about that!!!
?????will it work??????

b0bmast3r

Good idea...
Im up here in ireland backside, donegal. Im at the letterkenny IT and im know theres a lot of people with ****e connection (i mean under 25 kb p/s bad) and im sure i could get a good number of people to help out. maybe even get the student union to give us a hand in getting ready and the like, as we have some experience in protesting.....





Im a hermit living in a hole.

b0b

naitkris

Originally posted by Chaos-Engine
How about every IT related student in the country signs up to a joint declaration that they may have to leave the country to find employment due to the lack of Broadband infrastructure and perhaps move to somewhere like Serbia, Turkey or Russia were broadband penetration is much more numerous and affordable.??

sign me up for that (comp sci, ucc) - i'll just head home to sweden where i'll get an always on 512Kbps DSL connection for 28 Euro a month (i.e. double the speed of esats new DSL package for less than half the price)!

sceptre

Exams in UL starting in a few days (I have 4, poor me) so I'll give our crowd a shout after that unless they're already here.

ykt0di9url7bc3

i'll give SNET (wit computer soc) a shout about this idea....

more than likely they will be very interested!

Champ

I'm in second year Comp Sys UL, as soon as the exams are done you can count on my support;)

Chaos-Engine

Glad to see such healthy interest so fast. I've been thinking about this for months now and talking to the odd person.

I think on an individual College basis getting The Internet/Computer Societies involved is teh way to go. Avoid the Student Unions as I don't think they really can fully understand the importance of this issue from what i see. The SU's are generally concerned with student issues and this is much much bigger and affects more than jsut students. The SUs will probably just view it as a Comp Sci thingie...

Anyway. I too have alot of immediate exam/assignment worries but I will definitly be hopeing to head things up in Trinity with a bit of help which i can pull together.
Lets say by the end of Febuary. If we can have started to get names on paper by then I think we are in business.


And again. Please add what exactly we should aim at. Should we go down the road i suggested or stick more thightly to the IOFFL line... Personally I think a more "Students worried about their future" is the best route to use. No one likes to see Ireland's young hopeful talant leave the shores. Especially after the experience of the 80's which is what most of those in the seats of power will remember better than any of use Students as they were in the process of struggling to where they are today during the 80s...

ok... I'm going to sit back now. Come on... Lets get crunching. Ideas people. I know my idea is a good one. lets just develop it more.

Dangger

This is a great idea. IrelandOffline have let two opportunities two get into colleges during freshers/clubs & socs week pass us by. We were alwaus snowed under when the time was right to prepare for them.

So it would be great if we could do a member recruitment drive aimed at colleges across the country to raise awareness and relevance.

sceptre

Originally posted by Champ
I'm in second year Comp Sys UL, as soon as the exams are done you can count on my support;)

Excellent - that's at least two of us down Lim-richo way to pester ULers then

(<cough> 1st year Comp Sys btw)

I'd agree with Chaos-Engine that it's probably a waste of time getting the SUs on board, for a few reasons. Firstly, as he said, they'll regard it as a Comp Sci issue. Secondly, a lot of people in colleges don't trust the SUs - they regard it as something of a pig trough (and in some cases they're right). We need to try and make this more of an "us" issue than a "them" issue.

It would certainly be worth getting in touch with the SUs for two particular reasons though - some coverage in the college rags (preferably in a nice simple but readable (read: "less tech") article written by a student of that college) and perhaps the possibility of some info being given at class rep councils (which won't do much good but it will motivate tech students who aren't involved much with the comp soc). In UL's case I know the chap in charge of the college newspaper but haven't had a comp soc account in years.

So far, we've at least got some people willing to help/promote/organise in TCD, UCC, WIT, UL and Letterkenny (and as an added bonus they're people who know the issues well given how long they've been posting here). Any more foo^H^H^Hvolunteers?

MarkR

I'm in a similar boat to ando. Dip in Software Engineering, working in a call centre. Working on N+ exams in the meantime. Some of my fellow students (with degrees I believe) are in toy stores. Saw another working in homebase, one selling the big issue (ok, not the last one, but there's feck all out there!)

I came out of LIT about a year and a half ago. Supposed to be opening up a new e-business park out my way soon (soon in an irish government context anyway) So, maybe we'll all eventually get a job.

Ruaidhri

well you could start with the arts students (seriously they have noting better to do )

i think it's a good idea,and i'll give it my full support(but there is no way i'm staying in ireland when i finish my degree in computer networking in Carlow).

as for the SU's,surely they will pick on this if it gains enough momentum?

Chaos-Engine

Originally posted by Ruaidhri

as for the SU's,surely they will pick on this if it gains enough momentum?

your right there. They are sure to jump on the band wagen once it starts rolling.

MarkR

Give them free t-shirts and placards, they'll support anything. Once this is done, i bet we can get them to protest about the weather.

Dangger

We have an article on the drawing board for the trinity college mag currently. The dealine is the 22nd of Jan. So there is a start.

Ruaidhri

We have an article on the drawing board for the trinity college mag currently. The dealine is the 22nd of Jan. So there is a start.

would you submit the same article to multiple college mags?
i'm sure our student mag will publish it(they are gaggging for content).

parasite

i think this could be partly self-defeating, as the public by and large dismisses/hates students anyway, i'm a student and i loathe students
you'd probably be better off improving contacts with business lobby groups etc ..

Chaos-Engine

Originally posted by parasite
i think this could be partly self-defeating, as the public by and large dismisses/hates students anyway, i'm a student and i loathe students
you'd probably be better off improving contacts with business lobby groups etc ..

Business loves IT graduates. After they see something from us they will probably pay much much more attention to IOFFL.

Champ

It's heartening to see a strong interest developing in this topic.:)

Anyway i happen to know a fellow Comp Sys student who's a leading and influential member of the Skynet Club in U.L. While others may find him annoying(more often because he's right than wrong), he's highly respected and of strong ethics. He would be a very valuable ally to have aboard ... i'm not sure of what his desposition to the cause would be ... i'll be able to contact him alright, whether or not i'll be able to convince him to aid us is another question. Not to say that i don't think he won't, just i'm not sure whether he feels the same as we do :rolleyes:.

Comp Sys Co-op beings in 2'nd Year on Feburary... so the best i'll be able to help is the ignition:( as i'll be in Dublin for most of the year... though i'll try not let a little detail like that prevent me from contributing:D

pork99

Originally posted by Legbreaker
I'm in a similar boat to ando. Dip in Software Engineering, working in a call centre. Working on N+ exams in the meantime. Some of my fellow students (with degrees I believe) are in toy stores. Saw another working in homebase, one selling the big issue (ok, not the last one, but there's feck all out there!)

Celtic tiger how are ye?!

The "students worried about their future" angle is an excellent one, ref that lame cr*p some minister came out with about emigrants coming back home to enjoy the benefits of the e-tub

i think this could be partly self-defeating, as the public by and large dismisses/hates students anyway, i'm a student and i loathe students

being a bit harsh there - most people or their next of kin have are/have been/will be a student

Admittedly they tend to bang on as though they're experts on life and can't hold their subsidised drink which I feckin well paid for out of my taxes thank you very much, but we'll let that go

maxheadroom

Originally posted by pork99
subsidised drink

Where, when and who do I have to kill


Seriously though, I'm in Trinity, and would like to help out if possible, but being a med student I don't have tons of time (and a lot of it is taken up with SU related... issues at the moment )